Crack of Sunlight
by ShikaSennyo
Summary: Rin and Kakashi after Obito's death.
1. Prologue

Her clothes were strewn around the studio; the canvas a ripped and torn mess. Bits of dust floated in through the window, visible in the waning streams of sun, disappearing behind grey clouds. The linoleum was cold against her back.

He had left in a rage, the last thing they would see of each other.

She was dirty from paint spots and dropped pastels and the dust that she always assumed was left to create atmosphere, but it didn't matter.

He was the only good thing to happen in a while. Too good for her to appreciate. She took advantage, sometimes, and took him and his love for her for granted. And that's one thing she could never forgiver herself for.

The room got darker as the clouds opened and rained on everything. She looked around the studio; long tables, cabinets and containers and the easels bathed in darkness. She lay under the open window, her attention turning to the razed canvas, the only thing the grey rectangle of rainy light reached. She looked at the rips and holes in his face, so much like his face now.


	2. Chapter 1

She gathered herself, the rain still pounding on the roof of her studio. It was the top floor of her apartment building, she reminded herself, and no one would her hear her, especially in the rain. But she wouldn't cry. Couldn't cry.

Instead, she picked up her clothes, now ripped by something she couldn't remember. Vaguely, she recalled the destroyed canvas and felt a faint pang of regret as she closed the door to the studio.

Kakashi needed her.

OoooOoooOoooOoooOoooOoooO

Damn. What a mess this had turned out to be. He turned his attention to the living room, if you could call it that. The walls and floor were covered in ripped paper, cards that had been sent by hypocrites who didn't give a damn that he had died anyway.

He remembered when she called. He remembered the choking silence that followed, the silence that still fell when he was alone with nothing but his own thoughts, whispering and floating in and out of his mind.

Kakashi wondered if she was still up there, with the canvas she had been painting, a portrait of them. She had never actually gotten to painting herself before she ran out of room.

He had loved her until he died.

And they would all love each other, always.

He decided to go. Rin would need him.

OoooOoooOoooOoooOoooOoooO

Rin walked in the rain, the only clothes she hadn't ripped to pieces on her back. The rain had long soaked through the thin fabric of her shirt, but she wasn't cold. His jeans, were slipping off her hips but it cooled her skin and calmed her thoughts and the grey skies matched her mood. Dead leaves and fallen cherry blossoms crunched under her sandals. The rain trickled down the sidewalk into the grass, obstructing ant hills.

She was hoping no one would be there. She would turn around and leave to avoid crying in front of anyone. She would do anything to avoid showing pain; she had to. Otherwise, it could be used against her. That's why Rin loved him and Kakashi: she didn't have to be afraid.

She kept trudging through the muddy grass and trees into the middle of the familiar copse.

The clearing was still and wet. The stump was dripping and Rin could still see the names they had carved so long ago.


	3. Chapter 2

Kakashi's hoodie was drenched, the hood long since useful hung heavy against his back. His shoes made a squelching sound with each step.

He ran to escape the scratched, ripped face of his dreams towards her, to take her hand and rescue her.

_She sat on the stump alone, her brown hair obstructing her face. She seemed lost. The rain was __still__ dripping in the clearing, the __smell of__ rot hanging in the air, emanating from the disturbed leaves. The silence was deafening. It was heavy with despair._

OoooOoooOoooOoooOoooOoooO

Even as Rin sat, the surroundings seemed familiar. She knew this would be accepted sooner or later, swallowed up by the back corners of her mind, only to be dredged up from the farthest edges of recollection by some song she heard in the grocery store, or the faint pang of remorse she would feel when she went to kiss someone else. It would sink in, slowly, sooner or later. However, she would entertain the thought, for now at least, that as long as this stump still stood, and as long as the initials were still there, he would still be alive.

She slid off the stump. For the first time, she noticed the history carved into it: friends and lovers had left their wounds and revels here, in this scarred wood.

The small crooked letters she would always remember were still there, to the right, near the top: R K O. Obito.

She heard a crashing and leaves breaking in the cool air. Wet flowers floated slowly to the wet dirt in the broken sunshine. He was her crack of sunlight.


	4. Chapter 3

He was almost there, he could feel it. Kakashi spotted the small opening between the trees and stopped. "Rin."

Head up like a shot, she saw. "Kakashi?" She ran to him. Arms encircling each other, she felt some small comfort, a warmth that spread to her insides, if only for a moment. "I've missed you. I thought you'd never come," she said, "I thought-" Her eyes stung and she realized the sun was disappearing. There was no time for tears.

Rin pulled back and looked at him, feeling the fear relieve and injustice take its place. "Kakashi, you shithead! How could you do this? Obito dies and then you, his best friend, _my _best friend, you disappear without a trace! What was I supposed to think? We were supposed to protect each other!" She sat back down. "I can't believe you."

How many times had she felt this hopeless? The same pain raged through her when she saw people laughing on the street or crying over the pettiest of issues. Fuck that. She would never be helpless again.

The sun shone weakly through the trees above her. She looked at the new green leaves on a low hanging branch, the fallen rain glittering and winking at her in the now sick and shattered sunshine.

She could feel Kakashi's stares boring through her. She wondered if he understood. "Well?" Turning to him, she saw him bow his head and drop his eyes.

"I'm sorry."


End file.
